Lost in the Woods
by EllieLovesToRead
Summary: When Lily agreed to go shopping with her friends she didn't expect to get lost in the woods, let alone fall in love with the biggest prankster in the school or turn up soaking wet on his doorstep.
1. Chapter 1

**Lost in the woods**

By Eleanor Jane Farrell**  
**

Jayne Potter woke up with a start. Her sixteen year old son stared down at her with a massive grin on his face. He shifted his gaze to his mother and the empty bucket in his hands. Jayne opened her mouth to say something but James interrupted her.

"You told me to wake you up at 7:00," he gave her a lopsided smirk, "you didn't tell me how." He gave her one last smile and ran out of her room. He ran down a corridor, turned left, ran across the landing, stopped at the top of the stairs, sat on the handrail and slid down the banister. He neatly jumped off the end.

The Potters were a rich wizarding family, they lived in a mansion in the woods in Surrey. They were a small family of 3. James Potter was the youngest of the family. He was the son of Jayne and Nick Potter. They were one of the happiest families you could ever meet. James was Jayne and Nick's "little treasure". Nick and Jane, according to James, were the best parents in the world.

"Aww James, I have to dry my hair now!" Jayne's voice echoed through the hallway. "Please don't slide down the stairs. You could hurt yourself."

"Don't worry mum, I've done it a thousand times," James called back, "I'm an expert at it."

"Being an expert doesn't make you invincible, James. Experts get things wrong and injure themselves or their reputation all the time."

"Oh, stop overreacting, mum. Dad will be back from the Ministry to pick you up soon, or are you having second thoughts about leaving me here on my own again? Honestly, It's not the first time I've stayed here on my own! And I've promised I wouldn't destroy the house and I won't."

"But me and your dad are going for a week! A whole week on your own! What was I thinking? A week! Maybe I should ask Mrs Black if you could stay at her house with Sirius."

"Maybe Sirius could stay here?" James asked hopefully.

Sirius Black was James' best friend. He, like James also belonged to a rich wizarding family, but the Blacks, (excluding Sirius) were proud to be all magical and called themselves 'pure bloods' and thought that they were better than most wizarding families. The blacks didn't agree on letting muggle-born witches or wizards into the wizarding world and thought that they were scum.

Sirius didn't like his family very much and his family didn't like him very much either, which is fine by him. He counted his 3 closest friends as his family, his brothers. Brothers in everything but blood. Why not? Besides friends are the family we chose for ourselves. The group of 4 "brothers" weren't seen without each other, except maybe during the summer holidays when they were with their families (blood relatives), but even then they saw each other every other day.

The four friends were James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. They would have done anything to help each other and they all were fiercely loyal. A great example of their loyalty is what they did for Remus. They still keep his secret and they have done everything they can to help him. Remus Lupin is the one that stood out from the group, not because he was a prefect at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and liked to study. No, Remus was indeed a werewolf. The wizarding world didn't like werewolves and behaved badly towards them, so luckily no one knew about Lupin's condition then, wasn't it?

Remus, when he was little, was bitten by Fenrir Greyback. Fenrir didn't do it by accident, oh no, it was no accident. That bite was intended for Remus. His dad and Greyback had a bit of a disagreement, so to get his revenge, at the next full moon Fenrir waited outside the Lupin's house and attacked their son. From the moment Remus was bitten and up until this day Remus Lupin was a werewolf once a month.

The last of the group of 4 boys was Peter Pettigrew. If someone was to compare the boys they would have said that Peter was the odd one out instead of Remus. Peter just trailed after his more brave and powerful friends. He never let them out of his sight and liked the attention that they gained. He didn't talk that much when other people were around, it could have been because he was shy or he didn't feel the need to talk. These boys called themselves the Marauders, infamous for their pranks and less famous for their secrets. The four boys were animagi, which means that they could turn into animals at will, well apart from Remus who has no choice but to turn into a wolf once a month. They had been trying to perfect their animagus forms for years and they finally fulfilled their aims last year. James Potter became a handsome, chestnut-brown stag with black rings around it's hazel eyes, marking James' glasses, from that day on the other 3 called him Prongs. Sirius Black became a big, black, shaggy dog that had a close resemblance to The Grim omen, his friends called him Padfoot. Peter, the last animagi was a rat called Wormtail. Finally Remus was nicknamed Mooney.

Back at the Potter's mansion, Mrs Potter finally agreed to let James stay on his own, under one condition, he had to write to her every day.

"Your father's here!" Jayne called to James. "Come here so I can say goodbye." James rolled his eyes. It wasn't that he didn't like the attention his parents gave him, it was the fact that they treated him like a little child. James put down his Potions essay, got up from the chair he was sat on and shuffled into the hallway where his parents were stood by 2 suitcases. They were going on an important business trip to America. Nick Potter worked at the Ministry of Magic as an auror (dark wizard catcher). It was his job to catch Voldemort's followers before he became even stronger than what Grindlewald was. Jayne Potter was his assigned healer and had to take care of him if he was to get injured.

Jayne pulled James into a rib-cracking hug and held him tight until James pulled back trying to escape from her death grip.

"Mum, you can let go now…no really, let go" James gasped. She reluctantly let go of him but put her hands on his shoulders.

"Now remember be in bed before 12:00" James rolled his eyes as she continued. "The house elves will cook your meals so don't worry about that. Write every day! We will come straight home if you need us."

"Blimey! Let the man breath." Nick chuckled. "He's probably looking forward to a break from us. Goodbye Son." Nick ruffled James' jet black hair that he had inherited from him, it never seemed to lie flat and always looked as though if he had just stepped off of a broomstick. His eyes, however, were inherited from his mother, they were a brilliant hazel colour. Jayne planted a finale kiss on James' forehead and pulled the door shut. '_Home alone', _James though, before going to finish his homework.

* * *

**A/N: As HellsQueen kindly pointed out, I switch from past and present tense an awful lot. I have corrected all of the mistakes that I could find, don't hesitate to point out any that I've missed, I won't be offended. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 **

A girl around the age of 15 was peacefully sleeping in her bedroom having a dream about her best friends, Alice Prewett, Mary McDonald and Marlene smith. She was just getting to the good part of her dream when she was rudely woken by someone hammering on her bedroom door.

"Lil-ly! Mum told me to wake you up!" It was her sister, Petunia. She looked over to her clock that read 10:30.

"Tuny! You could have woken me sooner! I'm meeting Al, Mary and Mar at 12:00! In one hour and a half!" Lily jumped out of bed and ran down to the kitchen faster than anyone could say "Quiddich". She grabbed the toast her mum made for her, downed her orange juice, snatched up her jeans and a yellow vest top from the washing pile on the side and ran back upstairs. Lily's mother looked at the door Lily had just ran out of with a bemused expression on her face.

"Good morning to you too, Lily." She muttered to her self.

"You know, talking to yourself is the first sign of madness." Petunia Evans stated. "She seemed to be in a bit of a rush, didn't she?"

Lily reappeared later that morning after she had got ready. She was trying not to argue with her sister as they were making a fresh start and were hoping to get back their friendship they lost through their separation through school.

"You could come with me if you like." Lily offered, tucking her red hair behind her ears. "My friends won't mind."

Petunia smiled. "No you're alright. I'm meeting up with this boy about 3:00."

"What's his name?" Lily replied intrigued.

"Vernon, Vernon Dursley."

"Cool! Oh! I have to go." Lily got up from her chair and gave her sister a hug. "Bye!"

"Yeah, See ya, Lils."

"Bye, Babe!" Rose Evans called from the bathroom.

Lily walked down the streets of Surrey, to the park about 5 streets away from her house. When she got there, there was a pair of girls with their mother. As she walked into the park, the mother gave her a dirty look and stared at her as she made her way towards her best friends.

"There's Lily!" Shouted a brown haired girl, running over to Lily.

"Hey, Alice. How are your holidays so far?" Lily asked.

"Oh, you know, the same old things. Although I never did go swimming." Alice replied.

"Hi Lils! You know Alice, I think we all should go swimming together sometime. I mean we both wanted to go, so why not go together?" A long, black haired girl made her way towards where Alice and Lily were standing.

"Hello, Mar! So no Mary yet? Late again I suppose. She needs to learn to be on time." Lily chuckled.

"Hey! Hey Mar, Lils, Al! Sorry I'm late, there's a massive traffic jam near where I live. Road works I presume. So what are we doing today?" A voice that belonged to Mary panted.

"Mary, you're always late!" Marlene complained. "10 minutes in fact!"

"Quit complaining, Mar. It wasn't her fault this time, she said there were road works." Lily backed Mary up.

"To answer your question Mary, we were waiting for you to show up before we made any decisions on where to go." Alice added.

After the girls had a long discussion, it was decided that they would all go to the coffee shop a couple of blocks away from where they were and then head into town. Just as they were about to leave the park, something caught Lily's eye, the women who had the twin girls was still glaring at her, watching her every move but this time she had had another person with her, a man. Lily was starting to get paranoid, she didn't like being in the centre of attention, especially not from two complete strangers. Lily leaned over to whisper to her friends.

"Don't make it obvious, but is that woman still staring at me?" Lily asked. Alive glanced over to where the couple were standing to confirm Lily's question.

"Yeah… Y…you don't think they could be death eaters, do you?" Alive replied, a little scared.

"No, they are not the type. They would have done something by now if they were." Marlene stated. "come on, the coffee is called me!"

10 minutes later, Alice, Lily, Marlene and Mary were laughing and joking over their drinks, forgetting all about the suspicious pair they saw in the park.

"So Lily, you heard from James, at all this summer?" Mary asked, jealousy etched all over her face.

"Hell no! He knows that if he sends anything I won't read it. I'd tear it up or burn it!" Lily said secretly disappointed that she hadn't had a single letter from her crush.

"Aww come up Lily, I wasn't born yesterday. I've seen your little stash of the letters he's sent, you've kept them all!" Mary smirked.

"Oh shut- Mary! The woman from the park- she's sitting two tables behind you!" Lily exclaimed, wide-eyed. "They might be following us!"

"Not still worrying about them, are you?" Marlene scoffed. "It's just a coincidence that they're in the same shop as us."

"Yeah, a coincidence…" Lily broke off into a chain of thought. Was it just a coincidence and she was just over reacting? "Come on, lets go. We don't want to stay in here all day, do we?" Lily got up and paid for their drinks.

"Okay, so where are we going next?" Alice asked.

"The woods!" Mary and Marlene said simultaneously.

"No. How about if we get lost?" Alice replied.

"Don't worry, we'll stay close to the edge, so we can't possibly get lost." Marlene answered back.

"Let's do it!" Lily agreed. "But no too far in, okay guys?"

"Okay, I promise." Marlene answered.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

At the Potter mansion, James Potter was lost in a transfiguration spell book. The place had been silent for the last few hours, which was unusual. James sighed, he couldn't spend a whole week like this. He was about to get up and grab his quill and some paper when something grasped his arm.

"Master James, sir. Twinkle has Master's lunch." Twinkle, James' favourite house elf, bowed and presented the food. "Is there anything else Twinkle could get Master, sir?"

"Aw, thanks Twinkle, you're a star! Erm… could you ask Sirius, Remus and Peter if they would like to come round?" James requested.

"Of course, Master." She bowed once more before exiting the room. James sighed once again. This is going to be a long week.

A few minutes passed before Twinkle came back into the room and confirmed that James' three friends were coming over.

"Thank you. You know, you could have a break if you like." James suggested.

"Oh no, sir. Twinkle couldn't. Twinkle won't." Twinkle went off into one of her rants. "Twinkle can't. No, Twinkle has to work."

"Alright, alright! Twinkle, I get it." James interrupted. "I was only trying to be nice." He muttered under his breath.

"Twinkle had better go." Twinkle clicked her fingers and disappeared. Somebody in the room snorted. James turned to face the source of the noise and came face to face with Sirius Black.

"Sirius!" James jumped back in shock.

"Is it too late to say 'boo'?" Sirius laughed. "You're a bit jumpy, James. Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, you scared me, that's all." James answered, still a bit startled. "So, how are you, mate?"

"I'm good. Glad to be out."

"Ooh, family trouble?"

"Exactly. How about you? Where are your parents?"

"Gone to America for the week, with the ministry."

"Ah yes, I remember you telling me about that at school." Sirius recalled. "And now, you can't bare the silence?"

"How'd you know?" James queried.

"I'm your best bud, I can tell what you're thinking. Hey, maybe we have a psychic link with each other."

"What's this about psychic?" A voice belonging to Remus Lupin called from the doorway.

"Well, I think that Jamesy and I have a connection between our minds. I can tell what he's thinking." Sirius replied rather smugly.

"Hi Remus." James greeted him quickly.

"Hello guys. Peter told me to tell you that he can't make it now. So James, you are home alone all week. What are you going to do?" Remus asked.

"Well, I'm not quite sure, but inviting you guys round is a start." James replied.

"Yeah, but I have to go at 4:00, otherwise my parents said they would disinherit me." Sirius scoffed. "I'm surprised that they haven't done it already."

"So, what are we going to do that will last 3 hours?" Remus said, going into teacher mode.

"To explore the woods!" Sirius and James said, triumphant grins spread across their faces. Remus sighed in defeat,

"There's no changing your minds, is there?"

"Nope." James and Sirius both has identical gleams in their eyes. If you looked closely, there was also a ghost of the gleam in Remus' too.

5 minutes later, the trio were out of the door and were heading farther into the wooded area. Remus, being the sensible one of the group, was keeping bearings and taking in his surroundings. Sirius seemed to be leading the other two, while James pointed things out and told them about some of his old memories in the woods.

"There's an old tree house a bit farther ahead, my dad built it when I was 9." James explained.

"Awesome! I want to see it." Sirius claimed.

"So, you are taking note on where we are going?" Remus asked. "I thought I was going to have to show you the way back."

"Mooney, I grew up in these woods. I know them like the back of my hand." James answered.

"Good, because I don't think I can remember the way back." Remus admitted.

"I think you could, but the route we took was fairly confusing." James stated. "There's the tree house." James was pointing at a weather beaten fort in an easy-to-climb tree. Some of the planks were half-rotten and the ladder leading up to the door was missing.

"I guess we are climbing the tree to get up there." James laughed.

"Good thing the tree is easy to climb." Sirius added.

"I think I'll stay down here." Remus said.

"Well that's your loss." James shouted down from the tree, he was already half way up.

"I can't believe we've been here for nearly an hour now. The time has gone really quick. James?"

"What Sirius?" James answered.

"Have you been bugging Evans all summer?" Sirius nudged James.

"Actually, I'm going to giver her some space." James replied, shoving Sirius back.

"Good idea." Remus called up. The three boys sat in comfortable silence for a while. "Don't you think you should be heading home Sirius?"

"Oh yeah, right. I'll see you later guys." Sirius' cheerful mood evaporated immediately. He climbed down from the tree and started to head through the woods.

"Er, Padfoot, mate. Are you sure you know where your going? The exit's that way." James pointed to the clearing.

"Sorry, my mind kind of wondered." Sirius reluctantly walked out of the woods.

"Oh, by the way, you can transform into your animagus form here, the ministry can't trace the magic. You will get back home quicker that way." James called out. Sirius signalled that he heard and turned into a big shaggy dog.

On the way out of the woods, Sirius heard voices, to his left but he passed it off as people just exploring the woods. The voices were coming from two girls discussing something in excited tones, a plot…

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for the short chapter.  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

As Lily, Alice, Mary and Marlene headed into the woods, Alice could have sworn she saw a dog head towards town.

"Probably a stray." Lily shrugged her shoulders.

"It looked like that dog we saw at Hogwarts." Mary added.

"Yeah! Hey, you don't think it's the grim, do you?" Marlene suggested, suddenly interested.

"No, I don't believe in divination. It's like Lily said, it's just a stray." Alice lectured.

"Hey, I take divination!" Lily complained.

"Yeah, you used to hate it, until the professor moved you next to James." Mary jeered, while nudging Lily.

"Why don't you go out with him? It's clear you like him." Marlene questioned Lily.

"I don't know… I don't like him!" She denied.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say Lils." Mary replied not believing a word of it.

As the girls walked further into the woods, the darker it became. Alice had never liked the woods, she was very alert and on edge. The trees seemed to intimidate her and a dark rain cloud loomed above her head. When she was younger, Alice had gotten lost in the woods. She was only 10 at the time and didn't know any survival methods. She was lucky the woods hadn't been too deep.

Alice and Lily both jumped as thunder rumbled from the sky.

"Just my luck!" Lily exclaimed, "The day I didn't bring a coat, it rains!" Lily kicked up some mud in front of her.

"At least your not wearing a skirt." Marlene whined.

"Maybe we should go home. Or we could go to Lily's house since it's closest." Alice suggested. The truth was she hated the woods and just wanted to get out of them.

"Nah, a bit of rain never hurt anyone!" Mary insisted, still wanting to explore. "Come on! Where's your sense of adventure?"

"Not if it's a storm. With all of these tall trees about, we are asking to get struck by lightning. No, come on, my place." Lily said finally.

"Aww you're no fun!" Mary moaned, but gave in. "Okay, the exit's this way." Mary pointed towards a clearing and started walking to it but paused when she heard some voices.

"They're in there." One of the voices said.

"They're trapped now." Said another. Marlene was about to go and investigate but Lily held her back.

"What are you doing?!" Marlene hissed.

"We don't know who's behind there! Have you got your wand?" Lily hissed back. The other three girls checked their pockets, only to find them empty.

"Darn it! I can't believe we all forgot our wands! I mean, how stupid can we get?" Alice ranted.

"Well, what do we do now? I don't want to walk into some sort of trap." Mary was getting worried now.

"By what they said, it looks like we are already trapped" Lily replied. "But I don't give in so easily. RUN!!"

Mary and the girls had only got a couple of metres head start before the mysterious couple from the shop revealed themselves. Mary was quite a fast runner but was going slow for her friends sake.

"Come on, Alice! They are gaining on us!" Mary called out. As she looked back for her friends, Mary's foot got caught on a tree root and she fell and scraped her hands and knees along the ground but she got up and continued running. She could feel the blood trickling down her legs but she didn't care, she was also oblivious to the heavy rain stinging her face. At this moment, Mary wasn't the tough, strong girl, she was vulnerable and scared running on her adrenaline.

Behind Mary was Lily. She wasn't doing any better. Lily had a stitch and her arms were all scratched from the twigs on the trees, but she couldn't stop now. Lily kept on looking back to make sure her friends were still with her and to make sure they were getting away from their pursuers. The more Lily ran she noticed in got even darker, they were heading deeper into the woods. Lily suddenly realised that she didn't know which way they came from, she was lost and if Mary, who was leading them, didn't know where they were, they were all lost. Lily took one last glance back, they had lost the couple from the shop!

"They're gone!" Lily gasped, out of breath. "We've finally lost them!" She giggled.

"And about time too!" Marlene grumbled. "I'm sorry I dismissed your suspicions earlier, Lils. If I had listened to you we wouldn't have been stalked and we also wouldn't be in this mess."

"Don't worry about it Marlene, you couldn't have known." Lily started. "Mary do you know where we are?"

"Erm…no?" Mary asked rather than answered. "I was concentrating more on getting away from those creeps than the directions. I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Lily replied. "Come on let's move, those creeps might come back. Are you okay, Alice? You haven't said anything."

"I'm fine, just a little shook up that's all." Alice answered, peeling her top away from her skin as the rain had made it stick to her. "But I am kind of wet."

"Phew… At lease the trees give us some shelter from it." Mary stated. "The downside is the it also blocks out the light, which won't help when it gets dark. I do _not _want to be here at night, imagine all those creatures that could be hiding in here. Whoa cold shiver." The girls were shuddering at the thought of unknown creatures in the woods.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

James and Remus had started to head back when it began to rain, Sirius had long since disappeared into trees, and Remus was just about due home. James took the lead as he knew the woods better than anybody. As the they were heading back to the Potter mansion, James could of sworn he heard somebody yell "run". He could have also sworn it has sounded like the object of his affection - Lily.

"Hey Moony?" James asked his friend. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what? The thunder?" Remus replied. "It's been thundering for about 10 minutes now, you know." Just to prove his point, a flash of light streaked across the sky followed by a loud rumble.

"No, not the thunder! That voice!" James answered, a bit impatient now. "It sounded a lot like Lily."

Remus snorted. "You've got Lily on the brain! And now because you haven't seen her in a while, you have got withdrawal symptoms, which by the way includes: hallucinating, sulking and.. Ouch, jeez. I was only joking! There's no need to hit me."

"I did hear something." James argued. "I'm not hallucinating and I've not got withdrawal." He folded his arms, a bit abashed.

"Whatever you say…"

As soon as they reached the mansion, Remus bid him goodbye and disappeared into the fireplace shouting "Lupin Cottage" clearly as he went. The wind had picked up since they had gained shelter, it was howling and rattling against the windows. Every so often there was a flash of lightning and a deafening roar coming from the sky, it was beginning to make James paranoid. He sat down in the armchair by the fire and picked up the discarded homework that he had put aside to greet his friends. He was just about to do the work when Twinkle appeared out of nowhere, she was carrying some parchment and a quill. Twinkle quickly bowed low from the waist and handed the items over.

"Master James, Sir." She squeaked. "Mistress Potter requested for me to remind Master James of the letters he is supposed to be sending her."

"Yes," James answered her while rolling his eyes, "I almost forgot. Mum would have a fit if I forgot. She'd probably drag dad back here just to check on me." He accepted the writing essentials and said his thanks.

"Master James also needs to eat. What would you like for dinner? Sparky has made some fresh pumpkin juice, would Master require a glass?" Twinkle asked respectfully, her big round "tennis ball" eyes curious.

"Pumpkin juice would be nice. Could you make some pizza? I really fancy a pepperoni pizza at the moment." James laughed as his stomach rumbled in agreement.

"Of course Master. Twinkle will pass your requirements onto Sparky, he is doing the cooking tonight." Twinkle bowed once more, her nose almost touched the ground and scuttled towards the kitchens.

It was 5 minutes after Twinkle left the room before James started to write the letter to his mother. He thought for a moment and then scribbled down a short note in a spidery cursive handwriting, stopping every so often to dip his quill into the ink pot. A few minutes pasted and he finally stopped writing to check his message.

**Dear Mum,**

**Don't worry I'm fine. You told me to write to you every day, so this is the reason I'm writing. Twinkle had to remind me though. I've done most of my homework, I only need to do potions and defence against the dark arts now. I invited Sirius and Remus round today we had fun, Sirius seemed a bit down though… The weather here is terrible. It's raining real bad and there has been some thunder and lightning. I have eaten and I'm about to have some pepperoni pizza. Tell dad I said hi. **

**Take care, **

**James **

After he was satisfied James got up and searched for his owl, Shadow. Once he had found her in his bedroom, he neatly tied the letter to its leg.

"Take this to mum in America." James instructed the animal. She wouldn't be that hard to find, Shadow had never yet to fail to deliver a single letter.

Around half an hour later, James looked up from his homework because he smelled a delicious aroma wafting around the room. He grinned at the site of his meal and threw his work aside immediately. A slightly taller house elf hurried over to where James was sitting and presented the food to him.

"Oh wow," James said with awe. "it looks tasty!" He grabbed up a piece and made a noise of approval. "Mmm… Thank you Sparky!" The house elf bowed and exited the room looking very pleased. As James polished off the last of his pizza and downed the juice he noticed it was starting to get dark. He got up to light more candles in the room. As he peered out of his window he could see the wind rustling the trees he could even hear the whispering sounds that they made over the sound of the rain strumming against the glass. He stayed with his head against the window for some time, his breath fogging up the glass every time he breathed out. All the background noise was slowly lulling him to sleep. He had almost drifted off then he sat up and jumped away from the window as if it had burnt him. The glass was slowly icing over. James suddenly panicked, there was only one thing he knew that could do that to the glass and they were Dementors. "What were they doing here?" ran through James head as he reached for his wand and prepared himself for any attack that they might perform.

* * *

**A/N: Firstly, I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in months. I've had some major family problems, my dad passed away last month. I've also had writer's block but I defeated it today (Ha! Take _that_ writer's block :P) Anyway, moving on. So it begins. *Mad genius laugh* Joking I'm not that evil... or am I? I promise that James will cross paths with Lily next chapter. **


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

As the four girls frantically tried to find a way out of the woods, they realised that Mary's hopes of getting out before it got dark was in vain. All of them were soaked, Lily and Marlene being worse off as they wore less clothing than the other two girls. It was still raining and the temperature had dropped considerably. Alice sighed and sat down on a rock.

"This is hopeless!" She cried. "We have passed this rock five times already! We are going round in circles!"

"Alice," Lily tried to keep her voice calm. "come on, we can't stay here. We have to get out before it gets any darker. We already can't see very far in front of us."

"I don't like this! I just want go home!" Alice stood up and waved her hands around dramatically. "I've gotten lost in the woods before, I hated it and even then it was in the day light. Who knows what kind of creatures are waiting out there for us!" Alice suddenly stopped waving her hands and looked at the ground. Mary walked over to her and put her arm around her, she returned the embrace.

"I know, I know. I want to go home too, we all do." The others nodded their heads in agreement.

"I'm sorry, I'm not really helping am I?" Alice answered, she had calmed down a bit now. "I'm just scared." She admitted.

"I am too." Everyone stared at Mary as she said that, she never told anyone that she was scared. Marlene who had been quiet spoke up.

"Wow, that's a first!" She tried to lighten the mood even though she was worried about their predicament. "Wait 'til everyone at school hears about this one!" Mary stuck her tongue out at her and scowled, the others just laughed including Alice.

"Come on. There's no use in just standing here. It'll be pitch-black soon." Lily reasoned with them. She started walking in the opposite direction that they had just came from. "Keep an eye out for tree roots, we don't want Mary tripping over them again." Mary fingered the knees of her jeans and pulled them away from her skin. There were two identical holes from where she had tripped up earlier. Her hands and feet were grazed from the impact of the fall.

"Yeah, it still hurts from the last time." Mary agreed. "I think I'm going to have two massive bruises on my legs."

About 10 minutes later, the girls had managed to stop walking in circles, although Lily had a feeling that they were walking further away from where they had originally came from. The four friends were walking much slower now and they were shivering as the cold nipped at their skin. The rain had died down a lot but the air was still moist and the ground was damp. The wind was stronger now, it was chilling Lily's bones. As she turned to her right she gasped, there was a wooden tree house up in the branches of a crooked sturdy tree. A wave of excitement rushed through her. If there was a tree house here then maybe they were in near a clearing, nobody in their right mind would build it in the middle of nowhere unless they lived here.

"Look!" Lily pointed and giggled. "Up in the tree! We must be near the edge of these blasted woods! Or there may be a house up ahead!" The other three looked up and had identical expressions of hope on their faces.

"I hope so! I'd hate to kill your hope, Lils, but that tree house looks like it was built years ago. Look at the ladder." As Mary said those words, Lily felt her stomach clench in fear. However, Alice spoke up.

"If it was built a long time ago it doesn't mean we aren't near the edge of the woods. It just means that nobody has been here in a while." Alice's logic seemed to make sense, it reassured her.

"Yeah, I don't know about you but I wouldn't build a tree house out here if I couldn't find it again afterwards." Marlene added. Just before the sky got darker, Marlene found three sets of footprints. Curiously though she also found that one set of the footprints turn into paw prints.

"Hey, guys!" She called for her friends. "Come and look at this." The others came over and peered at the imprints in the ground. They were not that clear as the rain had washed a lot of them away but it was obvious what they were. "Look at these ones." She pointed to the paw prints.

"I see them! You don't think there's a werewolf here do you?" Alice questioned.

"Don't worry, Al. It's not even full moon tonight." Lily reassured her. "These are weird though. Most probably an animagus. That means were aren't the only people from the wizarding world here."

"They might be still around." Mary stated. "If they are, they could help us."

"They might be lost too." Alice joined in.

"What if they are death eaters?" Marlene said frantically. Lily watched the conversion take place, her eyes went back and forth between all three of her friends as if she were watching a tennis game. Finally she butted in. "Enough! Stop panicking. Let's just carry on walking and forget about the other people. They could be those two people who chased us. Let's _not_ go looking for them, I _really_ don't want a repeat of earlier." The girls stopped talking after Lily's rant but that wasn't the reason. The temperature has suddenly dropped to icy cold. The four girls felt the warmth drain from them. Floating there, in front of them, was a swarm of Dementors. Alice whimpered while the other 3 girls screamed.

Back at Potter Mansion, James Potter had spotted four silhouettes near his house. James squinted to try and see what the shadows were. They looked more solid and human like to be Dementors. All of the candles within the room had gone out because of the Dementors presence and nearly one whole wall had frosted over. James' heartbeat sped up as he heard three simultaneous screams. Making a quick decision he rushed out of the house, taking his wand with him. When he was out, some of the Dementors decided to attack him instead. Thinking of a happy memory, James shouted the incantation of the Patronus Charm.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM" A silver lion shot out of his wand shielding him from the deadly creatures. He thought of his mum and dad, his friends and of one time when Lily smiled at him. Immediately after James cast the spell the Dementors scattered off in different directions. When the cloaked terrors were all gone, James let his Patronus fade to nothing, instead he spoke a different incantation. "Lumos" A narrow beam of light shot out of his wand. He shone it in the direction of the four girls, who were shaking. "Lily?!" James had a look of shock and disbelief on his face. Her head shot up, also shocked to find James here.

"James?! What are you doing here?" Her voice was slightly shaky as she replied.

* * *

**A/N: I have an inspiration bug! I can't stop writing. This chapter is quite a bit longer than I first though. I've given James a lion Patronus because Gryffindors are lions. :P The stag is used too much, it's Harry's Patronus not James'. I thought I'd put this chapter up tonight to make up for not posting for a few months. I was going to wait a few days but when I've finished something I like to get it up as soon as possible. I would have written more but this chapter would have gone on for ages. Constructive critisism welcome here. I won't bite. :P**

**As I've read back through my story I've noticed that I had tons of typos, in fact they made me cringe. I'm sorry for this, I wrote my story late at night. I've corrected all of the ones I could see.  
**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

After the initial feeling of shock, James ushered the four girls towards his mansion. All five of the students were quite shaken from their encounter with the Dementors and were shivering from the cold. James watched the expressions of amazement cross the girls' faces as they set their eyes upon his family home and grinned. It wasn't every day that he got to show the grand house off. He wasn't boasting, he just liked people to see the beautiful mansion, it was almost as impressive of Hogwarts itself.

"You _live _here?!" Mary suddenly exclaimed. "It's fantastic!" She, like the other three girls, was taking in the sight with wide eyes.

"You think so? It's quite a wonderful house, it's been in my family for years." He replied. "Not many people get to see it though. By the way… What are you doing here? How did you get here? I live in the middle of nowhere!" Lily waited a few seconds before she answered hesitantly.

"Well.. we.. erm.." She replied shakily, she didn't really want James to know of their stupidity of wondering into the woods. Mary, being the braver of the four girls, spoke up.

"It was my fault. I thought it would be a good idea to explore the woods.. and we.. we got lost…" The girls were saved from a reply as they reached the house, winkle was standing in the doorway looking uncertain.

"Master James! Sir, you is all wet." She squeaked. "Twinkle must get towels for Master James.. and guests." She looked behind him to see the girls, who were even more wet than James. "Whatever would my Mistress say if she knew Twinkle let Master James out with the Dementors…" She seemed to be ranting to herself as she went to hunt down the towels. Just after Twinkle left, Sparky appeared. In his two hands he was carrying a massive slab of chocolate.

"Sir, you is looking a little pale. You must eat some chocolate, it'll help." Sparky hurried over to James and placed the slab on his hand. When Sparky didn't go away, James knew he was waiting to do something.

"What is it, Sparky?" He enquired.

"Should Sparky light a fire, Master James? When the soul-suckers came all of the fire went out. Perhaps Master James would like to get dry by it?"

"Okay. Thank you, Sparky." The house elf bowed and exited the hallway, eager to get the job done. James was just about to turn around and talk to the girls when Twinkle appeared again, she was drowning in all the towels she was carrying. James took pity on her and relieved her of the burden and handed the towels to the girls.

"Thank you." Lily, who had been quiet, mumbled. The others echoed her. As soon as Twinkle left, James had their full attention.

"Come on, lets go sit near the fire. I need to contact my parents, they need to know about the Dementors."

As soon as the five teenagers came into to room the heat hit them immediately. James mentally thanked Sparky for the fire. The room itself reminded him of the Gryffindor common room; a cosy, round room full of squashy armchairs. It had a large fireplace and a small table scattered with James' Transfiguration and Potions homework, as well as a couple of text books. It was obvious to anybody that the house belonged to Gryffindors; it was decorated in deep reds, gold and yellow. They all sat down in the armchairs by the fire, the heat bringing some of the feeling back into the their arms. Neither of the five occupants spoke until they had polished off the chocolate that James had shared between them. Surprisingly, the chocolate helped more than the fire, James felt all of his limbs warming up. Lily was the first person to speak up.

"So, what were Dementors doing here?" She paused for a moment. "Was it because of us? Or… something else?"

"I don't think it was because of you, Lily." James answered her. "I think they were meant for my parents… they aren't here though."

"Why would they be after your parents? Why aren't they here?" This time it was Alice who spoke.

"My dad's an auror, he and my mum have been sent off on a mission. I had to stay here, it's all top secret stuff." James stated matter-of-factly. "I remember my dad telling me once that Voldemort had gained control over the Dementors…" He trailed off.

"Are you sure that you haven't done anything illegal James?" Marlene attempted a weak joke to lighten the dark mood that had seemed to fall upon the room at the mention of Voldemort. He had been all over the _Daily Prophet _recently and the news had been grim. James gave a little cold chuckle over Marlene's comment. "Really sure. I've not had time to do anything so far, we had too much homework to complete."

"Wow, I never thought I'd see the day when James Potter does his homework on time." Mary commented, amused. However, James seemed to be a bit insulted by this.

"Hey! I do get my work in on time. I've forgotten to hand it in once, one time! Peter is the one who never does his homework. Thank you very much!"

"You do?" Mary seemed a little taken aback by this. "I just assumed that you didn't, I'm sorry." James waved her remarks off.

"You did underage magic!" Lily suddenly blurted out making the other four jump. "You're going to get in trouble with the ministry!"

"No, I won't… at least I don't think I will." James thought for a while. "If any magic is performed within the this house or within the grounds, the ministry automatically assumes that it's my parents but as my parents are on a mission I don't know what will happen." James shrugged his shoulders before continuing. "Plus, I was only using it to defend myself, you are allowed to do that. I need write to my parents, tell them what happened. I don't know if I want to though, my mum would surely drag my father back here. Either that, or she will send me to go stay with Sirius."

After a mental argument with himself, James decided to send a short letter explaining what had happened. After all he did promise his mum. Midnight wasn't back from the first letter, so he had to use another owl. This owl, used to be his grandfather's so it was rather old but it got the job done. James was absently listening to the girls conversation as he wrote the letter, they were recollecting what had happened in the woods.

"…that was when we saw the stray dog…it looked like the Grim…" James had to smirk at that. They had saw Sirius then, he thought to himself.

"…when those people started chasing us." James whipped his head up at that statement.

"What!?" He startled the four girls with his outburst. "You were followed?!"

"There was this strange couple who chased us further into the woods." Lily calmly clarified James' question.

"Why didn't you tell me before?!" James looked both angry and worried. "This is bad! They are probably Death Eaters! And with the Dementors around, that kind of proves it. If this is true then we are in big trouble!" The four girls shared looks of consternation.

"What?! How are we in trouble? We lost them way back in the woods!" Lily demanded the answer from James but he had left the room calling for his house elves. Lily became angry at James for not answering her and also scared at the fact that he didn't, he always answered her questions. The other three girl watched James' retreat forebodingly.

* * *

**A/N:** **Merry Christmas everybody. I'm saying this now as I'm not sure if I'm going to update before the 25th. :) So consider this your early Christmas present and if you don't celebrate Christmas, consider it as just a present. :P**

**These chapters are gradually getting longer. :P If you have any constructive criticism don't hesitant to tell me, I won't take offence, you are trying to help me after all. :D Until next time.  
**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

After a few minutes, a frantic James returned to the room, his two house elves behind him. His arms were full of black cloth. James beckoned the girls out of their seats and dumped the black cloth into Marlene's hands, which she identified as robes.

"Put these on," He told them. "we have to leave the house."

"Why? Potter, tell me what's going on!" Lily shouted.

"I'll explain everything as soon as we get out of here." James promised. "Put on the robes, otherwise you're going to be cold."

"Master James, you must hurry. It is best if Twinkle and Sparky stay here." Twinkle spoke up. "We can keep the Death Eaters off of your trail. Twinkle can also contact Mistress and Master Potter." Sparky pushed him towards the door as James seemed a bit uncertain at the thought of his house elves staying behind.

As soon as all of the girls had put on the warm winter robes they had left the house. They moved quickly but kept to the shadows. Their stealthy movements were almost unnoticeable. James had his wand out in front of him, every so often he stopped to listen.

"Come on." James whispered. "We need to keep moving."

"James… please tell us what's going on." Lily pleaded. "I think will have a right to know."

"Yeah, you said you'd tell us what was happening, when we were out of the house." Mary added softly. "Well, we're out now."

"Okay, I'll tell you… If the Dementors were sent to my house, that means that the Death Eaters won't be far behind. We could have either stayed behind to fight or get the heck away from there. I think that we have a better chance out here, don't you think so?" James explained.

"Yeah, especially since we were stupid enough to leave our wands at home." Alice spoke up. "It would have been one against two… or more if we count the twins."

"Twins?" James asked. "There's more than two?"

"Well, yeah, but they weren't chasing us in the woods. They were only with the man and woman at the park." It was Marlene who explained that time. "It's a possibility that they could have been following us too."

"Well, let's not wait to find out. I'm a good wizard but I don't think I can take on two Death Eaters and their children."

"I suppose so. Nice Patronus by the way. What form did it take? I've read all about them, aren't they supposed to be N.E.W.T level? When did you learn to cast it?" Lily probed.

"Oh, thanks. My Patronus is a lion. I learnt it in fifth year, Sirius and Remus did as well, Peter didn't."

"Ooh a true Gryffindor!" Mary cheered.

"Do you think that you could teach me it? When we get back to school of course. You don't have to if you don't want to, it's just that I'd like to learn how to do it. I mean…" Lily blurted out hurriedly.

"Whoa, slow down, Evans." James chuckled. "We don't want to give away our position to the Death Eaters, do we? I'll teach you it when we go back to school if you like?"

"Would you?" Lily's eyes lighted up at the thought. "Thank you!" She beamed at James. He felt like melting on the spot and if that wasn't enough, Lily jumped into his arms and hugged him. James couldn't stop his own wide grin show on his face. It was kind of weird having this conversation, in the woods, when they were trying to escape from danger. James just wished he had mentioned that he could cast a Patronus sooner, he was looking forward to teach Lily what he could do. They finally broke the embrace when Mary jeered at them.

"Get a room you two!" Lily blushed bright red. However James just smirked, then scolded himself as he remembered that Lily didn't like him being arrogant or conceited. He was actually surprised that he hadn't had a heated word from her, normally she couldn't stand him, maybe it was just the situation they were in, they would go back to being rivals once this whole thing settled over.

Once they had walked further into the woods, James heard some footsteps. The gang froze to a halt. James raised his wand a little higher, he could have sworn that he saw wand light through the trees. James' own wand wasn't illuminated, he thought it would draw Voldemort's troops towards them. The five teenagers held their breath as the footsteps got closer. James' wand hand was shaking and his heartbeat sped up, he was pondering whether to turn away and run or stand up and fight, like a true Gryffindor. He didn't have time to consider his options as the figure came into sight. The person in question made James' and the girls' jaws drop.

"Sirius!?" James gasped, relieved.

"James? What the heck's got you scared!?" Sirius asked, then he saw the four girls behind James and smiled wolfishly. "Wow, four at once. That's a new record." He joked and then became serious. "Really, what's wrong?"

"Death Eaters." James explained simply. "They were after Lily and her friends. There were some Dementors too." At the mention of the Death Eaters, Sirius pulled out his wand.

"Hey, us 'friends' have names too." Mary butted in, a little peeved.

"Alright, Lily, Mary, Marlene and Alice were chased. Happy?" James rolled his eyes, while Sirius snickered.

"So you though I was a Death Eater?" Sirius said. "I'm hurt. You really think I go wondering around with ole Voldemort?"

"I thought you went home." James said softly.

"I did. I came back again." Sirius stated. "I was wondering if I could have a place to stay." He seemed almost ashamed. "I've finally been disowned. I walked out when my mother was shouting at me."

"Of course you can Padfoot. My mum already considers you one of the family."

"Besides," Alice began. "we could use an extra person, in case we do run into the Death Eaters."

They continued their journey through the woods in silence, once in a while Sirius would break it with a good humoured comment. However, it was Lily who interrupted the silence this time.

"Do you even know where you are going?" She queried, looking at James expectantly.

"Of course I do!" James looked a little insulted. "I used to play hide-and-seek in here, with my dad, when I was younger."

"That's one of the weirdest, most dangerous games of hide-and-seek I've ever heard of." Marlene commented. "Isn't your dad an auror? Surely he wouldn't let you go play in these woods!"

"Aww, no it's really fun!" Sirius added. "I can remember when your dad used to cheat." Sirius grinned widely at James. "He used to Apparate so we could never find him."

"Mmhm. That's all great until one of you get killed by some creature." Lily scolded both of the boys, they just rolled their eyes.

As they voyaged through the trees they heard some more footsteps. They sounded like there was more than one set. The 6 teens came to a standstill once again, both Sirius and James raised there wands preparing for a attack. This time James didn't seem as worried, he had Sirius beside him. James knew that he would have his back and he would have Sirius'. As long as he had his brother with him, nothing could stop him. As the pace of the footsteps sped up, James was ready. He didn't however expect the curse the came flying passed his head, it stopped just shy of where Alice was standing. She shrieked in terror.

* * *

**A/N: I did update in the end then. How unlucky am I and how lucky are you. I've caught the inspiration bug _again. _Two days in a row. :P ****I'm thinking about writing two short stories about Lily and James, I'm not sure when I'm going to write them though. :) They will consist of Christmas and Patronuses. :)  
**

**Merry Christmas! It's snowing here! So I might have a white one.  
**

**For all you Twilight fans out there, my good friend, JessTheGeek, has a brilliant story on in. It's called "****Fond Memories**". **It's a good read. :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

A fight broke out between the teenagers and the Death Eaters; James could hear the girls behind him and Sirius exclaim and shout as spells narrowly missed them. James face was set, it held a determined expression that mirrored Sirius's, 'they _would_ win this fight' their faces somehow showed. James's grip on his wand was firm and unwavering, every so often he would shout out a curse and aim it towards the trees from which their attackers were hiding behind. _Cowards_, James thought bitterly to himself, _you can definitely tell that they are Slytherins because they hide away in battle! _James wasn't the only one to be annoyed by the Death Eaters' actions, behind him he could hear Mary shouting at them.

"Oi! You little pieces of scum!" she bellowed into the trees. "Come out from there and face us, you cowardly animals!"

James winced when he heard Sirius protest loudly at her comment. If he wasn't careful, he'd give away their secret. Sirius quickly gave him an apologetic grimace and then went back to shooting curses towards the trees. Sirius gave a victorious shout when he finally hit something other than the tree trunks, his victory was short lived, however, because soon after, James was hit with a curse. James dropped to his knees in agony, his whole body was burning. Everybody gasped as he screamed in pain, it was obvious to them that it was the Cruciatus Curse. Finally, Lily had had enough; she picked up James discarded wand and aimed it towards the trees.

"STUPIFY!" Lily cried. The spell hit the Death Eater square in the chest and he crumpled over unconscious. She stood her ground until she was certain that their pursuers weren't going to attack again, and then rushed over to James. Sirius and the other three girls were already standing over him; he was panting heavily but seemed physically okay.

"James? Mate? Are you alright?" Sirius asked as James glanced up at him. He sat up, albeit weakly, and nodded to his friend. He reached up to rub his temple, massaging it for a while.

"I'll be alright," he said in a quiet but hoarse voice. James got up shakily with some help from Sirius and took a deep breath. He brushed uselessly at the mud on his knees and took a hesitant step towards the stunned Death Eaters.

"They're both stunned," Lily told him, appearing by his side. James turned towards her and gathered her in his arms.

"Thank you!" he suddenly blurted out. "If it wasn't for you, I'd probably be…" James dry swallowed involuntary, thinking about what the Death Eater would have done to him. Lily struggled out of his grip and blushed.

"I'm sure you would have done the same thing for me," she mumbled, embarrassed. James gave her a small smile and looked away to save her from further embarrassment.

Sirius spoke up from behind them, "Let's get out of here. We don't know how long they are going to stay down for." Sirius took a few steps before looking back to make sure everybody was following and then sped up.

The gang of teens had been making their way through the woods swiftly when they came across a clearing. They were finally out of the woods, although, they were on the other side from where they started. The girls giggled and squealed with glee.

"Finally!" Alice called out into the night, startling everyone. "I'm never setting foot in the woods again!"

"Shush, Alice!" Lily scolded, half-heartedly, she was still relieved to be out. "It's late, everyone must be asleep."

"Oh dear, how late is it?!" Alice asked frantically. "My mum is going to kill me! She must be worried sick!"

"We have to find a way home before we worry about what our parents are going to say!" Mary suddenly spoke, disgruntled. "Or don't you think that's important too?"

"Calm down, McDonald!" James snapped at her. "You're not helping."

"No… she's right." Alice replied quietly.

"Sooo…" Sirius added to cut through the tension. "How are we getting the girls home?"

"I think that the Knight Bus may be the best option," James answered, sounding tired.

"The Knight Bus?" Lily came alert. "And that would be?"

"It's this bus that wizards and witches can use by flagging it with their wand," Sirius explained briefly.

"It can go anywhere in the United Kingdom, well apart from Ireland, that's overseas," James elaborated. "You'll see it in a minute."

"How come I've never heard of it?" Lily asked him.

"Uh, I don't know," James admitted. "Wow, that's a first: I know something that Lily doesn't." James laughed and grinned at Lily, who gave him a smile in return.

"Don't be so modest, James, you know plenty of things that I don't," Lily gave him a sly look, "like the Patronus Charm, for example. You are still going to teach me it, aren't you?"

"Oh, sure," he replied. "I think you'll learn that pretty quickly; you're clever. Well, exploring the woods without a wand was very stupid but usually you have more common sense." He chuckled lightly at her before giving her a one-armed hug.

"I didn't expect to run into trouble," Lily sighed. "I'm sure I have learnt my lesson. I'm definitely not going anywhere without my wand ever again. If you didn't live in the woods then we would probably all be dead. Thank you, James."

"You don't need to thank me," James said in a low voice, "I think that the Dementors were there because of me, well, my parents. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Yes, I do," Lily insisted. "You didn't have to save our lives, but you did. You could have just stayed inside and ignored what was happening." James seemed to be horrified by her words.

"You think I'd just let the Dementors get you!?" James shouted and then lowered his voice because Sirius looked over from his conversation he was having with the other three girls. "I wouldn't _do _that, Lily."

"Before today, I would have thought that you would," Lily continued before James could interrupt. "No, let me finish. I know you saved Severus's life last year, I don't know much about that but I know that you did. To be honest, I didn't know that much about you, I still don't but you know what? You're not a bad guy, James."

"Thanks, I guess," James grinned widely at her. "Well, everyone knows that _you're _a nice person Lily. Not a lot of people know the real me. What everyone sees is just a popular Quiddich captain, I think that only Sirius, Remus and Peter knows the real me and you, you have an insight. Maybe when we go back to school, we can be on better terms. Besides, if I'm going to be teaching you how to perform the Patronus Charm we need to be able to speak to each other. Maybe we could be friends, if nothing else."

"I'd like that," Lily whispered and offered her hand to James. "Friends?"

He took the hand and shook it, "Friends." They smiled at each other before they turned towards Mary, Marlene and Sirius, who were cheering, even Alice looked pleased.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry about the delay. I didn't exactly know where to go from the last chapter so this chapter may not be very fluent. Also, I've been working on a new story called "I Used to Live Here Once" another Lily and James story. **

**Yay, Lily and James are finally friends. :P  
**


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